Page 12 of Christmas with the Baby Daddy

I grabbed a tray and handed it to her before I took one for myself.

I had no time to worry about why Zachary West was here. Nor why his eyes looked so guarded, his whole vibe so glum. I had zero opportunity to stress about his being at this party. And I most definitely didn’t have the freedom to waste my energy analyzing, debating, wondering, and second-guessing what his presence could mean. I was here to work. I had to do my job and do it well. On top of everything else I was juggling in my life, I simply didn’t have the leisure to stop and think about the man I never thought I’d run into again.

“Come on. We’re dragging our feet.”

Tiffany laughed lightly as I tugged her back out to the rest of the bar with me. “As if. You’re a workaholic, Blake. You don’t know what it means to ever drag your feet.”

No. I just know how to trip over them just because I saw a face from my past.

But Zach wasn’t just any old face. He wasn’t an ordinary blast from the past.

That rugged, tall man was the one thing I wanted to keep in my past.

For the rest of the night, though, I kept clear of him. I didn’t allow myself to slow down long enough to see whether he was still at the bar. Whether he was still here to congratulate Coach Parker or to listen to Reagan flirting with him. All I knew and could take relief in was the fact that I didn’t encounter him again.

Cleanup would take a while, but Jenny refused to let me stay. “You’ve taken the last shift the last five parties, girlie,” she said with a firm shake of her head. “It’s Tiff’s turn.”

Tiffany nodded. “Yeah. Go on. I’ll handle this one.”

“You sure?” I asked, unused to not being a go-getter and making sure everything was wrapped up and torn down.

“Yeah,” Leo said, chiming in as he came from putting another load of things in Jenny’s catering van outside. “You should take it easy after that tumble out there.”

My cheeks heated all over again at the mention of my clumsiness.

Jenny peered at me, her brow furrowed. “Are you okay?”

Oh, you know. Just lost my footing and my mind at the fact that your grandson is back in town. I’m peachy.“Yep. Just tripped and had a clumsy moment.” I smiled quickly. “I’m fine,” I lied.

“All right.” She didn’t relax her face yet, though, likely on edge with my forced, overly peppy tone. “Then you head home and take it easy for the rest of the night.” Now, she smiled.

“Thanks, Jenny.” I wouldn’t push the matter if it would make me have to mention that I saw Zach. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her when he’d gotten here, but that would be too weird.

Instead, I dragged myself out of the bar and headed to my van. Not my van. Jenny’s. She was such a fairy godmother like that, not only a boss but also a friend who’d let me use her oldest catering vehicle.

Once I got home, I kicked off my shoes and sighed with my back against the front door.

Finally. Home.

I could hide. I could decompress. I wondered if I’d go to sleep and wake up to learn it was all a dream, a figment of my imagination that I saw Zach again. He often starred in my dreams, sometimes the exotic ones, but more so in psychedelic, strange ones that probably indicated I had unresolved demons in my past. Like the lies I wanted to hang on to for as long as I could to protect my son. And my heart.

“Long night?” Amanda asked, hearing me come in. She smiled at me and wrapped her arms around herself in a hug as she shivered. “Cold night,” she corrected.

“Yeah,” I replied to both of her comments as I pushed off the door. George didn’t run up to greet me, and I would be surprised if he did. It was three hours after his bedtime, and he had to be fast asleep. “How’d it go getting him to and from the party?”

“Fine.” She followed me as I walked into the kitchen where I set my purse on the counter to fish out some cash to pay her. The West house was right next door, but it was more than a few yards away. Amanda began the process of layering up for the three-minute drive home. “I had just enough time while he was at the party to hurry to the airport and back. To pick up Zach,” she said matter-of-factly, like that was regular, boring news.

I jerked my head up. “Zach?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Grandma was super surprised when he called this morning and asked for a ride home from the airport.”

“Huh,” I said, my heart racing with this topic.

“Yeah. It was a last-minute thing. Or it was on our end. With how sketchy he is about calling or texting us, maybe he’d planned the trip for a while but didn’t see the need to tell us until literally the last minute. Obviously, Grandma was at the party catering, but with George going to that party, I could wing it.”

“Lucky coincidence,” I said, straining to keep all emotions out of my voice as I handed her the cash. A quick smile seemed to keep her from noticing how I was on edge with what she said.

“Uh-huh. He looked really tired, but that’s a shame. He could’ve gone to the party and said hi to his old coach.”

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